The Fredonian Rebellion Complicates Relations in Texas (Part 2 - Apr 14, 2024)

by Scott Sosebee

This week, we continue with the series on the causes and coming of the Texas Revolution. This is Part 2 of an entry that looks at how the relationship between the Mexican government and its Anglo residents in Texas began to change with a short, unsuccessful revolt in Nacogdoches.

The quandary that empresario Haden Edwards faced when he arrived to oversee his land grant around Nacogdoches was representative of how the Mexican government had failed in regard to understanding the situation in Texas. Essentially, Mexico did not know who all lived in Texas or what conditions were like on their far northern frontier. The Mexican authorities in the interior of Coahuila and even farther away in Mexico City did not even quite understand how many lived in or the conditions contained within the settlement of Nacogdoches pioneered by Gil Y’Barbo and the Adeseños.The traditional progress of an empresarial grant—how it had proceeded, for example, in Stephen F. Austin’s grants—was an impossibility in Nacogdoches, but the Mexican government, who had no idea about what was happening in the region, had allowed Edwards to proceed anyway.

As for Edwards, he had requested the grant in order to profit from his efforts, and he had invested over $50,000—which would be approximately $200,000 in 2024—in his Texas venture, money he could ill afford to lose. Thus, Edwards posted notices requiring the present residents to provide titles to prove their claims. Most of what we can call the “old residents”—those who had come with previous filibuster expeditions, acquired their land through legitimate older land grants—such as the descendants of the Adeseños—and a scattering of others who came with earlier expeditions had actual titles that proved their ownership. Still, what Edwards did threaten their livelihood, and it also created tensions with many of the newer settlers who had come to claim land under Edwards’ empresario regime. It also did not help that Haden Edwards, along with his brother Benjamin, were a bit heavy-handed in their claims and somewhat arrogant toward the older residents.

The seeds of conflict between the “old” and “new” residents came in December 1825 with the election of a new Alcaldefor Nacogdoches. The Alcalde in a Spanish/Mexican villa was somewhat equivalent to the Anglo title of “Mayor,” except in the case of the Alcalde the holder of that office physically possessed the official land titles in the municipality. Samuel Norris, who had come to the Attoyac Bayou region just west of the Sabine with his family from Mississippi in 1803, stood for the position representing the “old residents” faction and Chichester Chaplin—who, besides being a new resident, was also Haden Edwards’ son-in-law—was the candidate of the new faction. Edwards, as the empresario, counted the votes and reported to the Mexican authorities in San Antonio that Chaplin was the victor and installed him in the office. The older residents immediately raised an objection, convinced that Edwards had put his thumb on the scale and that Norris had actually won the election. The Mexican political chief in San Antonio, Jose Saucedo, agreed with Norris and ordered that Chaplin surrender all credentials and records of the office to his opponent.

Chaplin—and Edwards—refused to comply with the ruling, so the authorities in Saltillo, the Coahuila state capital, in the late summer of 1826, declared Edwards’ land grant and any authority he had as an empresario null and void. Edwards now stood the chance of losing all he had invested and rallied support from the new residents who had come to take advantage of his grant. What happened next would seem convoluted to some, but it was part of a larger plan. A group of thirty-six Edwards supporters, led by Martin Parmer, John S. Roberts, and Burrell Thompson rode into the villa of Nacogdoches (most of the band lived along the Ayish Bayou near San Augustine) and took Norris, José Antonio Sepulveda (he had led the group demanding the Chaplin resign and held a minor office), ten other lesser officeholders, and—surprisingly—Haden Edwards into custody. They were all charged with corruption and then faced trial. Edwards was released, likely since he had instigated the entire thing and his “arrest” was cover for his deeds, but the remainder were convicted. Their sentence was to be death, but that would be commuted if they agreed to resign from their positions. Parmer then declared Joseph Durst, an Edwards supporter, Alcalde.

When word reached the Mexican authorities in San Antonio, they immediately ordered Lt. Colonel Mateo Ahumada along with 110 soldiers, on December 11, 1826, to march to Nacogdoches and quell the uprising. That led Haden Edwards and Parmer to hatch a plot to block the Mexican forces and keep their scheme alive. They organized a force of men—all new residents—and also initiated plans to forge an alliance with a group of Cherokee in the region in which to counter the Mexican force. They also declared a new nation, The Republic of Fredonia, on December 21, 1826. Haden Edwards then left his impulsive brother Benjamin in charge as he left for New Orleans to raise greater funds for their new venture. Ahumada also sent word to Stephen F. Austin about the developments, and Austin immediately called up his militia in San Felipe and pledged to march to Nacogdoches to aid the Mexican troops in their fight against the Fredonia rebels. Austin had implored the Edwards brothers to not create tension between Anglo settlers and the Mexican government, but his entreaties had fallen on deaf ears.

The Fredonian Rebellion, which had begun with a lot of bluster, ended in a sort of whimper. Local resident Peter Ellis Bean—who had lived in the region for a number of years and had worked for the Spanish and Mexican governments as a sort of Indian agent—gathered a force of older residents and began to move on the Fredonians in Nacogdoches. After a brief skirmish in the center of the villa, the Fredonians took refuge in the Stone House and then, when they learned that Ahumada and Austin were on the way, decided that retreat was the better part of valor and fled to Louisiana.

The Fredonian Rebellion was over, but its aftermath would alarm Mexico. If a rag-tag group such as the Fredonians could create an armed conflict what was going on in Texas? They needed someone to inspect the region and figure out what was happening way up north. That inspection tour, by Manuel de Mier y Terán, along with its results, would send Texas on a path toward revolution.

Next week: Manuel de Mier y Terán gives a damning report on conditions in Texas, a report that will lead Mexico to change its policies toward the province.

The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.